


Old Lady

by saturninesunshine



Series: Never the Right Time [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Motorcycle Club AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-18 15:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2353367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturninesunshine/pseuds/saturninesunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."  Vice President of a motorcycle club headed by Skye's father, it's been two years since Ward was first sent to prison for his part in illegal gun running. Skye never asked to be a biker princess. She never asked to fall in love with a rat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Lady

**Author's Note:**

> This is an au that I was toying with. I wasn't sure if I would write anything, but it looks like this might become a connected one shot thing. Also AoS is back! So there are going to be some parallels to the season premiere episode.

“You haven’t taken up smoking, have you?”

Skye jumped at the sound. Just the beginning of the day and already she was committing many unforgivable offenses. First and foremost was angering the pretty doctor lady.

Skye pocketed the pack inside her leather jacket pocket and slid off the bike as gracefully as she could. Stupid tall person.

She took the unlit cigarette from her lips and smiled. “No.”

“No,” Jemma repeated.

Skye smiled as convincingly as she could.

“And they say I’m a terrible liar.”

“You’re at the wrong place for that, sweetheart,” Skye said. “And I’m not a terrible liar.”

Jemma raised a questioning eyebrow. “Does that have anything to do with whose bike you’re sitting on?”

This was a conversation she was not prepared to have.

“What are you doing here?” Skye asked. “Did someone get shot?” 

The minute she said it, dread pooled in her stomach. Someone actually could have gotten shot. There was really only one of two reasons why a respectable doctor would be hanging around the garage.

“No,” Jemma replied.

Skye felt awash with relief. Then it was the other reason. 

“Fitz is out towing,” Skye said.

“I realize that,” Jemma said. “Did it occur to you I just want to come see my friend?”

“No?” Skye said. “Did you hear my wounded soul across town or something?”

“Just the wheezing of your diseased lungs,” Jemma responded lightly.

Skye rolled her eyes. This was one of her only secrets these days. Her dad was strict about that kind of thing. Especially now. And Jemma had discovered the only two she had left.

“Twist my arm,” Skye muttered.

Jemma smiled. “If you would.”

“They belong to Ward.”

Jemma sighed. “I figured. Keeping them safe and toasty for them until he gets back?” 

“For two years now.” See? Not something she liked to advertise.

“His bike as well, I suppose.”

“So teasing me mercilessly is your form of entertainment until Fitz gets back?” Skye asked.

“Hardly,” Jemma anwered. “Coulson’s looking for you.”

“Goody.”

Skye headed towards the clubhouse. She paused for a moment. “This means you’re not going to tell anyone, right?”

Jemma studied her for a moment. “It isn’t a shameful thing. You miss him.”

“Yeah, tell that to Mom and Dad.”

“I won’t,” Jemma said. “But he still wants to see you.” 

Skye stuffed the single cigarette into her front pocket and started back on her way.

“Good luck,” she heard Jemma call after her. It was only after Skye walked into the clubhouse did she realize what that meant. The only thing it could mean when she and Coulson were alone inside.

“Let me guess,” Skye sighed.

“Is that for your old man?” Coulson asked. “No hug?”

Skye thought maybe she should stop sighing so much.

“Hi, Dad.” She embraced him, but his phrasing still struck her as odd. She tried not to think of where she had been the other day and the questionable decisions she had made.

As questionable as they had been, she couldn’t find it in herself to regret any of them. Coulson pulled away and smiled down on her – not a hard thing to do – and brushed back her hair.

“I like it,” he said decisively. Skye brushed her bangs from her face. He was trying to mellow her out. She knew the tactic. But she wouldn’t be fooled so easily.

“Jemma said you were looking for me.” It came out like a question.

“She’s been hanging around a lot, hasn’t she?” Coulson asked conversationally. He was going to drag this out. 

“She wants you to patch Fitz in,” Skye said. “She cares about him.”

Coulson was eying her strangely and she knew her voice had come out far more wistful than it should have been.

“Dad.”

“We have a problem.”

“Do we?”

Coulson always used the term  _we_  even though technically Skye and her mother weren’t in the club. But just because women didn’t wear the cut didn’t mean they weren’t a part of it. Coulson said that a lot. She was getting tired of it.

“You.”

 _Me_.

It was all so clear. It was clear from the moment she walked in but she hadn’t wanted to admit it. It was too soon for disaster. They had just dealt with disaster and she wasn’t ready for any more.

“You want me to go down there.” 

“You’re the only one who can. You know that,” Coulson said.

“I was just there last week,” Skye reminded him.

“Three days ago.”

Skye’s jaw dropped. “Fitz.” 

“I asked him to tail you,” Coulson said. “Just in case.”

“I thought I saw him waving at that stop light.”

“He might have gotten a little lost on the way,” Coulson said. “So you went to visit on a social call. Not club business.”

This was the exact sort of conversation she had wanted to avoid. Talking to May was always different. It was always short and succinct and May trusted her to make her own mistakes. Coulson was always worried about her well being which she started to find grating. With her now starting to disagree on the more recent calls of his.

“Well what is it then?” Skye asked, determined not to get into this right now. It would be better later on when she had prepared for it.

Coulson dove right in. “The Feds are trying to build a RICO case against us.”

Skye knew exactly what he was thinking. “Ward would never rat.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” May reminded her. Skye hadn’t even seen her mother in the corner, but that was usually how it went.

“That was different,” Skye sighed, resigned. “He atoned for that sin. You should really see him-”

“We just need him to know,” Coulson said. She knew that he didn’t want to hear it.

Skye pushed her aviators over her face.

This part of the conversation was over.

* * *

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

Coulson had been right. Skye had visited Ward three days ago. But to look at him now, he didn’t look like anything had changed between them. Skye sat down in front of him. His eyes weren’t as glassy which made her relieved. But for her, everything was different. Even if it wasn’t for him. She had hoped it wasn’t because he had forgotten or something. She didn’t know if they were mandating any drugs. 

The scars on his wrists were faint but still visible. Ward still looked at her the same way he always did. Her father hadn’t even told her when it happened. That was still something that was hard for her to forgive.

Ward was getting sentimental in prison. And still, Skye couldn’t help but smile. As worried as she was about him in here, she was glad to see him.

“Is that ink new?”

She couldn’t bear to bring up anything of their past visits or what her father wanted from Ward. He had been under enough duress as it was, even if Coulson couldn’t see that. 

Ward looked down at his arm. It was a clear jailhouse tattoo as any, black dots connected up his arm.

“It’s a constellation,” Ward said. He smiled again and she understood.

“A sky.”

She didn’t know where it was coming from. But suddenly she broke down. He was so different from when he had first been arrested. He had eighteen months left on his bill and somehow, he was so delicate. Every emotion was clear on his face, his voice soft like it never had been before.

Ward reached across the table, taking her hand gently. She hadn’t used to let him do that. The first time was three days ago. So he had remembered. He was lucid, and that made her relieved.

Ward leaned towards her as much as he could with his restraints. “Skye, what is it?” 

“We only have ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes for what?”

Emotion came rushing back, the same thing that she had felt in her last visit.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” Ward said when she didn’t answer. She could hear the hesitance in his voice and it scared her. So much of what he was now scared her. She could only hope when he got parole he would come back. As much of himself as he knew how to be.

“Why?” She didn’t have to ask. She knew the answer but she wanted him to acknowledge it.

Ward looked down at the table. Since she was nineteen, never had she seen Grant Ward look embarrassed.

“Ward.” She wasn’t ready to call him by his first name again quite yet. 

“I told you,” he said. “For the rest my life, every word I say to you will be the truth.”

“So tell me.”

“I don’t think you’ll like it.” 

“When has that mattered?”

“It matters,” he said. “If you wanted to forget about last time –“

“I wouldn’t be here if I did,” Skye said. “I came here with a message from the club.”

Ward’s eyes cleared. His brows knit with concentration. He was here with her.

“Have you been talking to the Feds?”

“I wouldn’t,” he promised. “I would never turn against the club.” 

“I know,” Skye said. “They’re trying to use RICO against us.”

“RICO.”

“No matter what information you have in the last ten years,” Skye warned, “you can’t say anything. No matter if it seems like it doesn’t matter any more. They could indict the entire club as an organized crime syndicate.” 

“I know.” 

Ward knew what RICO was. It still scared her. 

“How are you holding up in here?”

Ward looked at her strangely. “Fine.”

Skye nodded, but she felt herself coming apart at the seams. He could see it.

“Do you still have the piece I left you?” Ward asked with concern.

“Yes.” Of course.

“The serial numbers are filed off.”

“I know.”  _Grant_. She almost said it. Instead, she squeezed his hand. His fingers curled around hers. “I wanted to come see you.”

“I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.” He would say that a lot since he had been charged. She knew what he meant. He didn’t have to keep saying it. But his scars ran deep and she didn’t think he would ever stop feeling guilty.

But he still had that look on his face. That confused look like he didn’t know why she was on the verge of tears. But she couldn’t very well say how worried she was about him. Not like that. Not yet.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t regret it.”

It was the first time she had said it out loud.

There was a banging on the door and she knew that the guard was coming to take him away. Skye leaned as far as she could across the table. Her kiss was tender but swift. He accepted it like he had three days ago with no complaint.

The guard pulled her off but when they escorted Ward away, his eyes were less hazy. His smile reached the rest of his face.

 She exhaled in relief.


End file.
